Yesterday we picked up some chatter on the CurbedDar regarding Five Franklin Place, Dutch architect Ben van Berkel's big, black and bendy New York City debut. Specifically we heard some rumors about the 20-story Tribecaish project's financing. Then, we noticed that the building's listings appear to have vanished from the web, and the project is no longer mentioned on the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group website. Concerned about these matters (the Post noted last week that only around 8 apartments in the 55-unit building have sold since May), we asked Leo Tsimmer of Five Franklin developer Sleepy Hudson to comment. And he did!
When asked about the state of the project, Tsimmer told us:
We are changing to Sales Gallery operations to "by appointment only," which will allow for significant economy in staffing costs, and ultimately let's us concentrate the attention on what is important, I.e. Construction. All other non-core aspects of the development such as advertising are also being downshifted. Trim and lean is the name of the game. Our financial troubles are no more than of the other developers who continue construction/development with their own funds in this market environment. Last week we finishied pouring the 2nd floor, and construction continues.
And there you have it. As for the sales and marketing situation, Tsimmer says Five Franklin has retained one person from the original sales team and two in-house employees. He adds, "I am in talks with Corcoran right now about the switch. It involves discussing new candidates and they expressely told me they "would love to continue being involved in this great project."
· Five Franklin Place [Official Site]
· Five Franklin Place coverage [Curbed]For more stories from Curbed, go to curbed.com.
